Harry Potter and a New Beginning
by Avis Fenix
Summary: The war was lost. The only chance is for Harry to come back in time. Maybe the second time, he will be ready. Do-over or back to younger self, with some more romance.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** I've written some things in the past, but this is my first fanfic, so if you are gonna write a review – wich I encourage you to do – please be relentless. Also, English is not my native language, so when it comes to my grammar be even harsher.  
I'll try to upload at least 1 chapter a week.  
If you are reading this, thank you, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

Every character and the whole world belongs to the one and only J. K. Rowling, I'm just playing in her kingdom for a bit.

Edition's Note: Fixed some grammar horrors. _Hawkswench_ gets all the credit for that.

 **Chapter 1 - When all seems lost**

Harry closed the door with a strong push. The rusty hinges yelled painfully, echoing through the library. The cold winter breeze slipped through the broken windows. It was hard to recognize the place that once was one of the most beautiful things that Harry had ever seen.

The boy threw his bag into the corner of the room, the cans inside made a bell-like sound when it hit the ground.

He sat in the ancient chair that stood in the middle of the room, between the towers of books, letting himself relax, at least just a bit. Hermione would have loved this place, even in its current state.

He stopped himself, by that point he knew better. He couldn't start weeping, not any more. He couldn't sink into fond memories, there were things to do.

The light cast by the candles flooded everything – the chair, the books, the low rivers of ice that hanged from the windows and the portrait of the old woman.

He watched the sleeping figure inside the golden framework. If you didn't know, you wouldn't have been able to notice the subtle movement of the witch's chest, or the slowly falling leaves on the background. Her head was down, resting in the precious bless of sleep.

"Minerva" Harry said.

The figure straightened up, opening her bright green eyes.

"Mr. Potter," she said in her thick Scottish accent, noticing Harry "how did the harvest went?"

"Poorly" said the boy shaking his head "There's almost nothing left at Hogsmeade. If we don't figure this out soon I'll have to start searching further"

"There's no passageway for that" said the witch.

"Then I won't use one" he said.

"That's too dangerous Potter" Mcgonagall said reprovingly.

"Not eating is pretty dangerous too" Harry said with a smirk "Don't worry, we'll figure this out" he quickly said before the strict witch could hit him with one of her characteristic admonish looks.

Harry graved a blue frayed book that was resting in the little table next to the chair. He opened it on the marked page and start reading, more to concentrate on something than anything else. He went through the well known page. A maze of complicated equations and strange runes fill every page of the book.

"Have you thought how to reduce the energy burning?" he said without moving his tired green eyes from the pages.

"No" she said almost in a whisper "Harry," the witch's voice was but a faint draught "maybe it can't be done"

"We can do it" said the boy, his attention overturned on the paper.

"I know," said the old woman "but maybe we should consider…"

"What!?" said the Boy Who Lived, throwing the book across the room as he stood up "What should we consider professor? Surrender? Let him win?"

"Harry, I didn't meant..." Minerva Mcgonagall said, her eyes immersed in her non-existing feet.

"I know what you meant" said Harry, spiting with every word "Do you think I haven't thought about it? Every day I have to convince myself not to let myself go, not to let him win. Bloody hell, he controls all Europe and almost all Asia. In a year he'll have America too"

The words echo through the library, filling every corner of the room with venomous thoughts.

"Voldemort won" he finally said turning to look at the defeated image of the last Hogwarts headmistress "Unless we can do this. Unless we can pull this off, all their deaths, all their sacrifices are in vain, and I can't live with that. Hell, I can't even died with that"

His eyes were heavy then. The green had succumbed and the pitch black had taken over.

"Harry," the professor said "this will most likely kill you"

"Well," Harry said, fetching the thrown book "at least I'll die trying"

* * *

Things were quieter then. Mcgonagall didn't talk again, but she didn't went back to sleep either.

Harry ate his way through the book "An assay in time travel", like he has done a hundred times before.

He had founded the book after he rescued the headmistress portrait from the fire that the death eaters had started after they thought him gone, and he had grapple to it like it was the last thing that matters in this world. Like things were, it probably was.

The memories of the "Hogwarts fall" were still very fresh in his mind, even after two years. The place that had become the head quarters of the last rebellion had burned like every other place Voldemort had put his hands on, and with it, his last friends had burned too.

He could still hear it. Neville's screams while he embraced what remained of Luna, Hermione's last words calling for the already gone Ron, Minerva, fighting till the end, screaming like Harry didn't even thought the witch could, and of course Ginny.

Hers he remembered most than all the others. Gin died in his arms. Still today he could see the blood running through her pores, he could feel it dampening his robes. She received the curse Snape meant for him, and died smiling, running her hand through his hair, like she used to do on the summers in the Burrow, under the tree that was theirs and no one else's.

By that point, tears ran all the way through Harry's face to finally fall in the dry pages of the well known book.

"That's it!" he said standing up, squeezing the book with such force that his knuckles had gone white.

The figure of the witch looked at him with a furrowed brow.

"Water" he said, the gears in his mind working at full speed "We haven't consider changing the medium. We can make a liquid that deals with energy in a worst way than air does"

"That way," Mcgonagall said, her eyes showed the gears starting to turn "we can apply enough energy to take you're soul back without it being destroyed by the backlash"

Harry started spinning in the spot. He felt something that he hadn't felt in a long, long time; hope.

"We have to run the numbers first" Mcgonagall said, but a smile had form on her face.

* * *

The next few days were consumed by math and potion making, which reminded Harry of his days as a student. Harry crunch the numbers, with no little help from Mcgonagall's portrait, and immediately started working on the complicated potion. Each day, Harry founded himself day dreaming about his friends, the family that had accepted the miserable Boy Who Lived, before they've known who he really was. He started dreaming at night too, something he hadn't been able to do in more than two years, not since the Hogwarts fall.

"This should do" said Harry, holding up the piece of paper with the recipe in front of the portrait.

"I really think that Lacewing flies would be a better active component than the Knotgrass" said the witch with a sigh.

"But we don't have any Lacewing flies, so Knotgrass it is" Harry said, pocketing the piece of paper.

He went to the tiny rack and grabbed the clear flask with the green leaves inside. Thankfully, some of Snape's ingredients had survived the fire. He dropped the contents of the flask into the massive cauldron. The leaves were consumed by the viscous boiling liquid, wich change from an opaque gray to a soft purple.

"It'll be just a few hours now" Harry said grinning, he kept roaming in front of the portrait "What do you think it'll do if I were to drink it?" he said when he noticed the preoccupied look of the old woman in the canvas.

Mcgonagall's face change suddenly, it was nice to know that the portrait maintained the witch's thirst for knowledge.

"You would probably die" she said "but potions was never my specialty"

"I wont test it" Harry said "just to be sure"

That draw a little mirth from Minerva "That's reassuring" she said.

Harry forced himself to stop moseying and he sat in the comfortable chair.

"Have you thought what will you do when you go back?" said Mcgonagall after a brief pause.

"If I go back" harry remarked "I don't know. I'm having problems with that"

"What problems?" she said with narrow eyes.

"I don't know wich theory is the correct one" Harry said, his gaze lost somewhere "There's a theory that sustains that no matter what I do, destiny can not be change"

"If that's true," Mcgonagall said "nothing of this really matters"

"I know" Harry said "that's why I'm gonna act as if that theory were wrong"

For a couple of seconds, all that you could hear in the room were the sound of viscous bubbles exploding.

"Another theory" Harry continued "says that I could change things, but that would make my memories… wrong in a way"

"If you change something in the past" Mcgonagall said siting up "that would change something in the future, which would make the memory that make you change that thing never happened so you would never have changed that thing in the first place"

"That sentence is awfully confusing" Harry said with a tired smile.

"What would happen in that case?" Mcgonagall said.

"It depends" Harry said "If the past I go back to is our past, that would be a paradox and time would shatters"

"Mr. Potter," the professor said, her eyes opening wide "that's horrible"

"Yes it is" Harry said downplaying it "that's why I try not to think about that one either. But there's another theory that maintains that I wont be traveling back to our past, I would be instead traveling to a different universe, that happens to be just like this one, only some years behind"

"All this thoughts are… disturbing to say the least" Mcgonagall said wrapping her arms around herself.

"I know" the boy said "that's the problem"

The room grew colder. Not even the sound of the brewing potion was able to disrupt the tension.

"This wont take us nowhere" Harry finally said "I'm going to assume that I can change things, and if that isn't the case, then I'll know I've done everything I could"

"Fine" the witch said shaking her head "So, what are you going to do?"

"I'll try to change as little as I can" Harry said "that way my memories will be useful for at least the first couple of years"

The tension kept growing. The witch was avoiding the question Harry knew she wanted to ask.

"Will you talk to him?" she finally said.

"I have nothing to tell him" Harry said, his hands were into fist, so tight that his knuckles went white.

"Harry," Minerva said "he did his best, he really cared about you"

"No he didn't" Harry said standing up "he only cared about destroying Voldemort, he couldn't care less about me"

"That's not true" Minerva said trying to sound convincing.

"Yes it is" lashed the boy "Everything, me living with the Dursleys, Snape, his damned Horcruces. He force me into a horrible destiny, he force my friends into a horrible destiny. All because 'It was the right thing to do'. He used his influence to manipulate every one of us"

By this point, the Boy Who Lived was shouting, pointing fiercely at the portrait. The old woman wasn't maintaining eye contact.

"He could have ask, you know?" Harry said, his voice getting lower "He could have trust the people that was prepared to die for him. Instead he only trusted the person that I repeatedly warn him about. That stupidity, no, that pride was his demise"

Harry was sited again, his hands trembled uncontrollably "Don't you ever said he cared, he doesn't deserve that"

Some time passed, it was hard to tell how much. The cold slowly leaved the room, consumed by the fire under the cauldron. The silent persevered though, that one only grew heavier.

"Did you double check the runes?" The professor finally said.

"Yes" Harry said, a remainder of his anger still lingered on his voice "They should take all of the castle energy"

Harry tried to calm down. He didn't realize the rancor he kept regarding Dumbledore. The old wizard had done what he thought best after all. But it was the foolishness of the man that really bother him. The headmaster thought himself the most powerful wizard, that's why he was so scared of Voldemort, the Dark Lord was the living proof that he wasn't. That's why his life quest was to vanish Tom Riddle.

Once his mind was cooler, the problem that had been nagging Harry for the last few days took first priority again.

"Minerva" he said not daring watch her friends image in the eyes "there's another problem"

"What would that be Harry?" Minerva said frowning.

"If the spell takes every bit of energy from the castle that means that the portrait..." he couldn't end the sentence, his throat closed and his eyes were full of tears.

"Harry" the old woman said starting to reach out with her hand before she stopped herself "This is only an image, the real Mcgonagall died more than two years ago"

"I know" the boy said in a whisper "but you've been my only friend for so long"

"Harry James Potter" the professor said, he had raised his head and discovered that she was staring very firmly at him "You are going to go back and fix everything so this portrait doesn't even have to exist".

Harry's eyes watered even more before the words of her friend, he had to bait his lip not to openly cry "Thank you" the boy said with a broken voice.

The old woman was crying profusely too when she nodded "Let's get to work" she said.

* * *

Harry checked the runes one more time. He was convinced they where fine, but the humdrum activity helped him calm his nerves. He put his hand on the cauldron, it was warm now, the time had come.

"It's time" Minerva said, probably noting his expression.

"Yes" hi said with a sad smile.

The boy approached the portrait and embraced it in an awkward hug "I'm going to miss you Minerva"

"You will go back just a week before school Harry" the old woman said with a sob "I will be there"

"I suppose" the boy said loosening his grip on the golden frame.

"About that" Minerva's image said looking very old "I've been thinking, and you shouldn't tell me anything of this, the past me I mean"

Harry's eyes were open wide "Why?" he said.

"You have to understand" the professor said "that at that time I didn't know you. You were only a very special child to me, and I didn't know what I know now"

Harry kept looking at the image of her friend.

"And I fear I wouldn't understand, I fear I would tell him"

"But" the boy said swallowing with difficulty "I need to tell someone"

"You will have your friends" she said.

"I can't do that to them" the boy said looking down "From my perspective, they are my family, but for them I'll just be a kid that could one day be their friend. I can't throw all of this at them, not for a couple of years at least"

"I think" Minerva said "that they would surprise you"

"Maybe" Harry said "but I can't risk it, I can't lose them again. I know is selfish…"

"Harry" Minerva said with smile "you have earned the right to be a little selfish"

"I'm going to really miss you Minerva" the boy said, tears threatening to come out again.

"I'm going to miss you too Harry" she said not holding back her own tears.

"Lets begin then" Harry said stepping towards the big cauldron.

He started removing his clothes. The professor cover her eyes until Harry told her he was inside the viscous liquid.

The purple liquid felt strange against his body, like if it were getting really close to his skin but not quite touching it. He removed his glasses and carefully placed them over his old robe on the floor.

"This is going to hurt a lot Harry" the professor said while the boy crouched, letting only his head and the arm holding the wand above the surface of the sulfur smelling liquid "You will essentially drown".

"I know" Harry said, his breathing heavy.

The boy gave a last look to his friend, touched one of the runes carved in the lip of the cauldron with his wand and he submerge in the thick liquid, letting his weapon fall to the ground.

The liquid quickly clasped him, pushing against his chest with unbelievable strength. He had to fight to stop the liquid from getting through his nose. Panic took over.

In a few seconds, the liquid started heating worryingly. Had they made a mistake in their calculations? Was the liquid not enough to contain the energy backlash?

Harry could feel when the spell fired. All the nerves in his body started screaming with pain. The agony was a hundred times worst than that of the Cruciatus curse. He fought to get out of the horrifying liquid prison, but the weight of viscous purple pressed him against the bottom of the cauldron.

He felt his heart slowing down, his muscles relaxing, his eyes slowly opening, and then, Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, finally died.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Thank you for all the reviews and follows. That really encourage me to keep on going with this story.

As always, everything that follows belongs to J. K. Rowling, may her path be straight and free of obstacles.

 **Chapter 2 - Getting ready**

Harry woke up. He frantically looked around trying to figure out where he was. He remembered Minerva and the liquid and the pain, but then all went black.

He was lying in a hard old bed. Wrapped books and broken toys lingered in the corners of the room. A wardrobe and a desk were the only furniture apart from the bed. A big trunk laid at the foot of the bed. Resting on the trunk was a neat cage with a precious snow white owl inside.

"Hedwig" Harry whispered cheerfully, he stopped himself from screaming but only on the last moment. The moon light merged with the street lights, painting the room with a cold light. The Dursleys must had been sleeping, waking them up would had severe consequences.

Harry stood up, opened the cage and started petting his old friend. While in the middle of a gentle struck on the messenger head, he realized what just went through his head and he couldn't helped the huge smile that took over his face. The idea of upsetting his old guardians brought a known fear, almost a comfortable one. He missed this. He missed his fears being a stupid child thing. Well, not that stupid maybe. If he would had woken Vernon at late hours in the night he would had felt his uncle's favorite belt in his back for a week.

They had done it. He was back. But it wasn't time to celebrate yet, there was a lot to do.

Harry checked the clock on the night table. It was to late to start that day. _No problem_ he though _it gives my time to think_. He gave a last caress to the happy owl and returned her to the cage.

"It's nice to see you again girl" Harry muttered.

The owl gave Harry a confused look, at least as well as an owl can manage expressions, but Harry understood "I'll tell you tomorrow" he said with a smile, and he went to sleep.

That night everything was quiet in Little Whinging. The usual silence was only interrupted by the little movements of people in their beds and the soft snoring coming from some houses. And that was it. Unless you were hearing really carefully. If you were to listen for just a moment you wouldn't had spot it. Even if you were to listen for a little longer you would hardly catch it. But if you were to pay attention, if you sat down on the corner of Privet Drive, near the number four, and tried to hear it, then maybe you could have got a glimpse of it, and that would have been enough. You would have heard the delicate sound of a boy dreaming of hope, for the first time in a long, long time.

* * *

The loud bangs on the door woke Harry up.

"It's time for breakfast" his aunt yelled. Of course what she meant was "It's time for you to prepare breakfast".

Harry got up and put on some of Dudley's old clothes. In that moment, the boy noticed how small he was. He hadn't realized the previous night, but his body was one of an eleven year old. Harry dismissed the matter as something he would quickly get used to. The clothes hanged from him, like they were a couple sizes too big, which was precisely the case. He took a second to pet Hedwig with a finger through the cage's bars and left the room.

The fourth step of the stair screamed under his foot, triggering a number of memories. The sudden anamnesis made his head hurt. He had to grab the stair's railing to prevent himself from falling. That made Harry uneasy. He was expecting some consequences of downloading a twenty year old soul in an eleven year old body, but if a small amount of memories hurt that badly…

"Hurry up" Petunia's flat voice took Harry out of that line of thought.

"I'm coming" he mumble tiredly.

Harry walked to the familiar pink and white kitchen. Top-of-the-range appliances filled the wide room. It took him a few seconds to remember where everything was, but after some drawer opening, and a considerable pain in the sides of his skull, the pan was squeaking with bacon grease and the kettle was heating on the flaming hob.

The kettle started whistling while Harry was cutting the slices of bread for toasting. The boy moved to get it out of the fire, but stepped on the too long leg of the trousers and fell over the stove, pushing the hot pan which flew incredibly, spilling bacon and grease all over the floor and the kitchen table.

"What have you done?" Petunia cried angrily from the living room.

"I'm sorry" the boy gasped.

Petunia entered the room, her face became a furious red when she saw the mess "You better be" she snapped. She gave a long stride, grabbed the boy by the collar of his shirt and hit him in the face with the back of his hand "That was your food for the day".

She let go and the boy fell to the floor. Harry covered his cheek with his hand, he could feel the warm liquid getting out the fine line one of his aunt's rings had cut there.

"Now start cleaning" she order as she leaved the kitchen.

The boy cleaned the blood out off his face with the sleeve of his shirt. _This part has to change_ he thought. He grabbed the cleaning supplies from under the sink and started preparing the new litter of bacon as he brushed the greasy floor.

Once all the dishes were served, his aunt told him to go to his room and stay there until he had to leave for "that hellish school of yours". That was a good thing for Harry. The Dursleys won't ask him to do the cooking and the cleaning thinking they were punishing him by not feeding him, which gave the boy the opportunity to prepare.

Harry spent the rest of the day putting things in order. When he was done, he shared some time with Hedwig. The white owl didn't seem to understand what earned her the extra attention but she wouldn't complain.

Eventually, the house went silent. Harry waited a little longer just in case, but when sleep seemed to had grabbed all the other inhabitants of the house he placed Hedwig in her cage and carefully opened the window. A life with the Dursleys and years of evading Death Eaters had given the boy a well practiced stealthy movement, so he got down to the front yard without making a noise.

He made sure of covering his face with the Hogwarts dark robes before he called the Knight Bus. The massive vehicle appeared in front of number four in a few seconds. Harry gave Stan, the conductor of the bus, the eleven sickles and told him he was going to the Leaky Cauldron. He then sat in one of the beds near the door.

As the bus traveled at top speed in between the muggle cars the beds inside wandered, hitting the walls with considerable force. This brought memories, and more headaches, to Harry's mind.

He arrived to the Leaky Cauldron quickly after. He double checked that his hood were hiding his face and went in to the pub.

The dark shabby inn was incredibly populated for a week night. In a corner, four men were playing cards, drinking a greenish liquid from big weizen glasses and smoking thin long pipes. They produced complex smoke figures that danced among the other tables, full of people talking at exalted tones.

"Can I offer you something?" asked Tom, the man behind the bar.

"I wont refuse something to eat" said Harry lowering the tone of his voice in an attempt to hide his age.

"Coming" Tom said as he turned around and rapidly fetched him a Banger pub style sandwich.

Harry sat at the bar and ate quickly, he hadn't realized how hungry he was. When he was done, he left some coins next to the clean plate and left through the back door.

He touched the correct spot on the wall – from the trash can, three up and two across – with his wand and the bricks shifted, forming a large archway. The vision was as astonishing as he remembered. The shops were close, but the lights bathed them with a warm yellow light, casting interesting shadows on the floor. Far ahead, Harry could see the imposing white building, it's grandiose stairway blazing under the torches.

Suddenly, the scenery changed. Harry's sight filled with fire and wreckage and death. Explosions erupted from the stores doors and windows, shattering them. The bodies, limp on the streets, watched him with glassy empty eyes. Coming in and out of the stores were the black shadows of the Death Eaters, shined only by the sporadic green flashes.

When the boy came back to himself he was on his knees. The sweat had fastened his robes to the low of his back. The pain in his head was almost unbearable. It took Harry a couple of minutes to recover. Luckily, the alley was deserted at that late hours, so no one saw him like that.

He got back to his feet and gave himself a minute to fully recover. What was that? The headaches were getting too intense. Would it be like that every time he remembered something? If that was the case, he wasn't sure if he could survived it.

He pushed that thought away, there were nothing to be gained from it at the time. Once he gathered himself he started his walk towards Gringotts Wizarding Bank.

The bank was the only building in the alley that was open all night – other than the Leaky Cauldron and some stores in the Knockturn Alley.

Gringotts' night staff was considerably smaller than that of the daytime one. Instead of the long rows of goblins surrounding the white marble hall only some of the tables that rested in front of the doors that led to the vault passageways were occupied.

Harry went towards one of the occupied tables. A small goblin with a long and pointy nose was writing furiously on a neat parchment.

"Excuse me" the boy said faking a low voice, he didn't thought that a goblin would even notice that he was a kid, let alone care, but he preferred being careful "I would like to visit my vault".

"Name?" the goblin asked without looking up.

"Harry Potter" he mumbled.

"Do you have your key Mr. Potter?" the goblin said, his gaze still intent on his work.

"Yes, sir" Harry answered taking the key out of his pocket.

"Follow me please" said the goblin resting the quill carefully next to the parchment and stepping down from his tall stool.

The cart was as fun as Harry remembered, maybe even more. When they arrived at the vault 687 the boy used the key and the goblin touched the enormous door, which opened swiftly. Inside, mounds of gold, silver and bronze occupied the cave. Harry filled a little bag with galleons and left the room.

Before he left, Harry asked Bogrod, the goblin that had been guiding him, to exchange some of his galleons for pounds, not a lot, just enough to buy food until he left for Hogwarts.

By the time Harry got out from Gringotts the sun was raising on the horizon and the first stores were opening, which was great, because it was time to do some shopping. He didn't particularly enjoy spending his parents money, he knew it would be incredibly useful during the war, but if he did this right, there wouldn't be a war at all.

The first place he visited was Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment. The simple vision of the inside of the store brought a smile to Harry's face. The whole room was crowded with magical objects of some kind or another. The artifacts covered the walls, the shop window and most of the floor.

Behind the counter, a thin tall woman fiddled with a small brass sextant. Her intense brown eyes focused at the task.

"Hello" she dropped the sextant and cleaned her hands on the side of her gnawed apron "What can I do for you?"

"Hello" Harry said, making sure the hood was covering his face "I was looking for a trunk"

"Did you have anything specific in mind?" she asked.

"Yes" Harry answered "I read that some trunks were bigger inside than outside"

"We have trunks with the extension charm, yes, but they are fairly expensive"

"That's not a problem" Harry said grinning "I don't need a particularly big one"

Harry left the store a couple minutes later, with his bag of coins lighter and dragging a worn out brown trunk with jagged golden strips following its borders and a hefty silver lock.

After that, the boy visited Flourish and Blotts, where he bought all the books he would need for his seven years of Hogwarts and then some more. After living in that library for so long books had became a necessity for him – Ron would have laugh his arse off at the look Hermione would have given Harry just for saying something like that. Besides, some people could notice that Harry knew more than a kid his age should – he was specially worried about Dumbledore, the man could always tell when something was off –, so some justification for his advance knowledge wouldn't hurt.

He payed a quick visit to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions and stopped by Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop and left Diagon Alley before it could get crowded.

By the time the Knight Bus dropped him at number four the sun was round in the sky. The Dursleys were probably having breakfast in the kitchen so he stealthily got into his room by the window – which with a trunk was not an easy feat.

Once in the safety of the room, the boy took out the Banger pub style sandwich – that he had bought before leaving – from his trunk and started filling it with the contents of the old one while he enjoyed the culinary piece of art.

* * *

Harry spent the rest of the day working in Ron's wand holster – a piece of dragon hide that surrounded the forearm with a release mechanism that would shoot the wand to his hand with a movement of his wrist. Ron had created the design when they were collecting the horcruxes.

Because they couldn't use magic for fear of being tracked by the Death Eaters – by that point Voldemort had already taken the Ministry – they had to fix everything "the muggle way". Ron turned out to had a knack for mechanical work, what, as Hermione usually said, would had made his father proud.

The holster didn't turned out as stylish as the original had been. The trimmings where uneven and the trigger that released the wand hurt Harry's wrist when activated, but it worked and that was enough.

When the sun sank behind the town outlines and the street lights came to life, the time had come. Harry didn't know if his plan was going to work, but it was the best he had come up with.

The boy prepared himself and left the room.

He could hear the telly and his guardians laughing from the stairs. When he appeared through the living room threshold the laughing stopped.

"What are you doing down here?" his uncle bellowed, his face reddening with anger "You better go back to your room"

"We need to talk" Harry said forcing his voice to be steady.

"What?" his uncle asked getting up.

Dudley and Petunia where frozen in their places, knowing what Vernon would do next.

Vernon was unfastening his belt when Harry activated the holster, his wand appearing on his hand. He made some exaggerated movements with his wand as he reached into his pocket with his left hand, which was wet. He slyly took out the Dr Filibuster's fabulous wet-start no-heat firework and threw it against the telly. The firework exploded in an exorbitant ball of colors, taking the screen with it.

"Sit down Vernon" the boy hiss, using every memory he had of the Dursleys as fuel for the venom he impregnated in every word. This gave him a headache but it was worth it.

His uncle sat down, the color leaving his face. His aunt and cousin were even paler.

"This is how things are going to work from now on" Harry continued "You wont have to feed me, you wont have to clothe me. I'll just live here. I'll only use my room, and the hearth from time to time, and you wont bother me any more"

Guilt was building in the bottom of his stomach. Those people had made his life a living hell, but that didn't give him the right to scare them like that. There probably were a better way of reasoning with the Dursleys. But it was to late for going back.

"Is that understood?" Harry asked, not able of maintaining the venom any more.

Vernon and Petunia nod timidly, their faces white as Hedwig's feathers. Dudley looked at him with an open mouth.

Harry just turned around and went back to his room.

* * *

That night the boy couldn't sleep. He kept replaying what had happened in his head. The explosion of light, the venom in his voice, the faces of his guardians. He hated Voldemort and all he stood for but as soon as he had the power Harry had used one of his worst tactics. He had used fear.

That night the boy couldn't sleep. The old him wouldn't have done that. Did the war change him so much? Was him not so different from Tom Riddle after all? Had he surrender to Dumbledore's mentality of "what ever it takes"?

That night the boy couldn't sleep. That night, no one could sleep at the number four of Privet Drive.

That night, the last remnants of the boy waiting to discover a new world full of magic vanished, and he was only left with a mission. He was only left with the drive to save his friends. He was only left with Harry James Potter.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note:** Well, this was a fun one to write. I hope you like it.

As always, everything that follows is J. K. Rowling's, may her quill be steady and her mind cloudless.

 **Chapter 3 – A ride in the train**

The rest of the week went easefully. Harry stayed at his room and the Dursleys didn't bother him. He saw them a few times while leaving the house – he used the window the first day after their talk but then he decided that he'll eventually had to start using the front door so way not start right then. They simply ignored him, like he didn't existed. That was what he told them to do after all.  
The days were filled with reading and the nights he spent planing. He even made a time line that would have made Hermione proud.  
When 1 September came he was ready. As ready as he could be at least.  
He waited until the Dursleys left – they were going to London to remove the pig tail that Hagrid had transfigured into Dudley – and went down to fetch the Knight Bus.  
The trip was swift, but Harry arrived at King's Cross with the marks of his nails red into his palms. He only realized how nervous he was when he arrived to the station. What would happen if his friends didn't liked him this time around?  
Ultimately, it didn't matter. He's objective was to save them. Even if they didn't like him, he was going to save them. He had to.

He got to the barrier between platforms nine and ten and stopped. Should he enter platform nine and three-quarters? In the other timeline Mrs. Weasley had helped him cross and that's how Harry met Ron. Would he still met Ron if he cross by himself? He had to lie to his friends about the time travel, he didn't want to add to that. Even small lies would snowball into deception. In the end, he would be a different person than that he would present to his family.

Harry was sat on his worn out brown trunk, weighting his conundrum, when a tiny voice took him out of it.

"Are you lost?" asked her shyly standing in front of him.

He recognized her before even lifting up his head. How could he not?

She was beautiful. Even as a child, you could see the breathtakingly good looking woman she would become. Her flaming red hair fell in a long mane over her face, hiding its acute shape. Her eyes shined brown like beacons, with such depth that Harry got lost on them. She was fighting to maintain her head level, he could tell even when she was good at hiding it.

Words left him. He had play the conversation in his mind a hundred times but he couldn't speak. Every cell in his brain was working on stopping him from jumping and wrapping the girl with his arms. He fought, he really did, but he couldn't prevent his eyes for watering.

Ginny must had seen this because she extended her hand, stopping only a few centimeters from Harry's arm.

"Are your parents with you?" she said.

"No" was all he could mumble before his voice cracked.

"Don't worry" she said and she rested her delicate hand on Harry's sweat one "Do you want me to cross the barrier with you?".

That was it. His hearth exploded with warmth. A trembling smile appeared in his face and all he could do was nod.

They waited there for a few moments, until Harry could compose himself. During that time, Harry thought other hundred things to say to the petite girl. He wanted to tell her everything, but that was just stupid. What would he say? He loved her, he was sure of that. Even if this Ginny wasn't his Gin, even if this Ginny were completely different for the woman he loved, one look in to her eyes was all he needed to know. He loved her, and nothing else really mattered.

But he couldn't tell her that. It wasn't fair for her.

When they started dating, Ginny told him that she had liked him since the first time she saw him and she just waited until he finally realized it. So now it was his turn. He would wait, even when all he wanted to do was hold her in his arms.

They both grabbed the cart where Hedwig and the trunk were resting.

"Ready?" She asked.

"Yes" He said and both went through the barrier. Together.

Platform nine and three-quarters was just as Harry remembered. A huge crowd of kids and their parents filled the place. The sound of laughter and baggage being drag through the stone floor and candid hellos and bittersweet goodbyes created a well known, comforting atmosphere.

His feelings must had been showing in his face because Ginny was watching him with a little smile.

"Thank you" he said looking her in the eyes.

Ginny turned red and looked at her feet "It's nothing"

They were in silence for a moment. A strange tension grew in Harry's stomach "Are you going to Hogwarts too?" he finally asked.

"No" she said, a bit of sadness in her words "My brothers are. I'll start next year"

"Well, you are doing really good" Harry reassured her "You didn't even started and you already made a friend"

"I did?" she said, her cheeks were blazing red and Harry could tell that she was holding tears.

"Of course" he responded placing his hand on her shoulder.

They exchange timid smiles. Everything around was muffled. Harry's mind filled with memories of the time he spent with Gin, without even the slightest headache.

"I'm Ginny" she said timidly, not lifting her head.

"I'm…" Harry started saying.

"Look at that" the cheery voice interrupted Harry.

"It seems our baby sister had found herself a boyfriend" George completed.

"She is a quick one, oh brother of mine" Fred followed.

Ginny's face was turning as red as her hair "He is not my boyfriend" she cried throwing a fierce look at her brothers.

Harry felt some color raising in his cheeks too "Stop bothering her" he said.

Both Weasley boys shoot him a look "Or what?" they both said teasingly at the same time.

Harry didn't know what to say, he had been talking without much thinking. He knew the brothers were insatiable and that they wouldn't back down from a jock easily, but every cell in his body wanted to protect Ginny, even when she wasn't in any real danger.

He would need something good enough but not so good that he may have problems explaining how he knew that later.

"I don't know yet" he responded, a smile was fighting his way back to his face, he couldn't contain it but he managed to transform it in to a smirk "but I solemnly swear that I am up to no good"

Harry wished he had a camera to capture the twins faces. Their jaws dropped and they look at each other in awe.

"How did you…?" both managed to grasp.

Harry only stared at them, his smirk widening.

"I think you were right, oh brother of mine" George said, his voice becoming serious.

"I think I was" Fred said "he must be"

"George" said George extending his hand towards Harry.

"And Fred Weasley" finished Fred mimicking his brother.

"A pleasure to meet you Harry" both said in unison.

Harry extended his own hand timidly, the twins grabbed it and shook it vigorously.

"Harry?" Ginny said, her face was red still and her voice was shaky "Like in Harry Potter?"

"Again with Harry Potter?" said a tall boy approaching the group. His fiery red hair and freckled complexion blend perfectly with that of the other Weasleys surrounding Harry, his blue eyes traveled from his brothers to her sister "What with him now?".

"His right there" said Fred, and the twins let go of his hand and pointed at him.

"Oh" he said. He cleaned the palm of his hand against his trousers and raised it towards Harry "I'm Ron".

"Harry" he said firmly grasping his old friend's hand, with a little more enthusiasm that he intended "Nice to meet you"

In that moment Harry realized what was happening. He was surrounded by whom he considered his family. For a moment, a fraction of a second maybe, Harry let himself believe that everything was going to be all right.

"What are you doing here?" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed breaking the red hair circle that had form around Harry "You are going to miss the train".

"Look mum" Ron said cheery "Is Harry Potter"

Mrs. Weasley stopped and looked at the scrappy boy, wearing too long clothes and to long hair and a too long smile "Hi sweaty" she said wrapping Harry firmly between her arms "You should hurry too".

Harry's jaw was hurting from all that smiling. Mrs. Weasley always amazed him. She had just met him and she already had gave him a crushing hug and she was worrying about him missing the train. Harry had to blink several times to stop the tears.

She hugged the twins next "You'll behave, right boys?"

"Of course mother" George said.

"You offend us just by asking" Fred added.

Mrs. Weasley shot them a murderous glare and moved to Ron "God luck on your first year honey" she said embracing his son, smothering him with kisses.

"Yes mum" he said pushing away from her "Lets go Harry"

The boy was touched by the speed with which Ron seemed to accept him, but he was a Weasley after all.

Harry looked back at Ginny. Some red still lingered on her cheeks and her sight moved away from her feet only momentarily.

"Bye Ginny" he said waving.

The small girl bit her lip and returned the wave.

The boys rushed to the train. The twins went to the front of the train, where they would meet with their friend Lee Jordan, while Ron and Harry went for the back of the train.

Almost unconsciously, Harry went straight for their compartment, the one he used to share with his friends. They accommodated their trunks over the seats as the train began to move.

Ron went to the window and emphatically wave at his mother and sister. Harry joined him. For a moment he thought that it may be weird, the eleven years old Harry didn't really knew Mrs. Weasley nor Ginny. But they salute back, yelling and smiling at the two boys.

The train sped up, living the station.

The boys sat down. The red compartment was just like Harry remembered, scarlet velvet covered the walls, merging with the seats of the same color. Hedwig's cage sat next to Harry, the owl fluttered happily inside.

The compartment was silent but for the sound of the train's engine and its wheels against the rails.

"Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron said breaking the stillness.

"Yes" Harry said.

"Could I see the…" Ron began timidly pointing at Harry's head "I mean, I believe you, it's just" he stopped, his shoulders slumped and his ears were turning a shade of red similar to that of the walls.

"Of course" Harry said excessively cheery moving the lump of black hair from over his forehead.

Ron pulled his body from over the seat to take a closer exam at the scar "Cool" he said "does it hurt?"

"Sometimes" Harry said, remembering a similar conversation he had had with the red head the first time around, anticipating the next question.

"Do you remember anything of" Ron lowered his voice "of You-Know-Who?"

Harry remembered. The cold voice hissed in his head. Suddenly, the room felt various degrees colder and light escaped the compartment, leaving everything under a dim bluish illumination. His head was killing him.

A skeletal thin hand, white as a corpse, slipped through the back of the seat and grabbed Harry by the throat. He was frantic. He tried to loosen the fingers, but they were tight against his skin, burning him.

His own fingers were numb and he could feel them tingling. He tried to go for his wand but he was horrified to find that it wasn't in its holster. The rest of his arms were getting numb, he had to do something.

He managed to turn his head and intermediately regretted it. Voldemort's face was looking at him with those intense small red eyes, a creepy thin mouth formed into a smile.

Harry's attention went back to the claw wrapping his throat. He knew his time was running short but his strength was all but gone.

He fought with all he had left, but ultimately the hand was too strong and he was too weak. The boy could feel as the last bit of air abandoned his body. The ghoulish laugh was the last thing he heard.

He could hear voices in the darkness but he couldn't discern what they were saying. They were all speaking in whispers. For just a moment, he thought he could hear his parents, but they weren't screaming like they usually did in his dreams, they were talking softly.

One voice became louder "Harry" it said "Harry, are you ok?"

The blackness subdue and a blurred red figure appeared in front of him.

"Harry" Ron was pleading, his was pale, which exalted the freckles in his face.

"What?" Harry mumble moving his hand to the side of his head.

"Are you all right?" Ron asked, he seemed to be trembling.

"Yes" Harry said unconvincingly "what happened?"

"You just banished" Ron said slowly going back to his seat.

The boys were silent and the tension started growing in the little compartment. Harry noticed the tears crossing his face and he quickly cleaned them with the sleeve of his shirt.

"I'm sorry" Ron said looking at his feet "I shouldn't have asked you about him"

"It's not your fault" Harry reassured him "I only saw him in nightmares. I was raised by muggles and they didn't talk about anything related to magic. I only learned about him when Hagrid took me to Diagon Ally a few weeks ago"

"You were raise by muggles?" Ron said, apparently happy to change the subject.

"Yes" Harry said "I grew up with my uncles"

"My dad will like you" he said "He loves anything that has to do with muggles"

That sentence made Harry feel a lot better. It wasn't only the fact that he remembered Mr. Weasley and the talks they had about muggle objects in the Burrow. It was the fact that Ron had already decided that he was going to meet him.  
"Really?" Harry asked, a smile finding its way back to his face.

"Yeah" Ron said mimicking the smile "It drives mum crazy", the boys started laughing.

They talked about the Weasleys and the Burrow. At first Ron talked about his home with some shame in his voice but after he saw how Harry was pending on every word and asking about all sort of things, he started getting more excited.

"So you live there with your whole family?" Harry asked.

"Yes" Ron answered "Well, except for my brother Bill who is working in Egypt and Charlie who trains dragons in Romania"

"He train dragons?" Harry said. Even when he knew most of the things that Ron was telling him, he didn't have to fake the excitement, listening to his friend talk about the Weasleys, whom he considered his family, was amazing.

"Yeah, he always loved them" Ron said.

"Cool" Harry responded.

The old witch with the snack cart stopped by their compartment "Do you nice boys want some sweets?"

"No, thank you, I brought some food" Ron said taking two sandwiches out from his pocket, his ears getting a little red.

"I'd like some" Harry said standing up.

He remembered that Ron had told him once, in the other timeline, that for the first years of Hogwarts he was jealous of he having money. At that time, Harry got mad with himself. He had never considered how his friend would feel watching him spending money. He had never thought nothing about it, but he knew his friend was a bit self conscious about the subject.

This time around though, he could make it better.

Harry bought only a few sweets and went back to his seats.

"Hey Ron" Harry said as his friend unwrapped one of the sandwiches "You can say no, but do you want to trade?"

"What?" Ron asked.

"I'll give you half of the snacks for one of your sandwiches" Harry said extending a hand full of candies.

"Really?" Ron said, his eyes wide looking at the sugar filled snacks.

"I know its not fair" Harry said "That look really good" he finished pointing at the sandwich in Ron's hand.

"Really?" Ron was in complete awe, his sight moving fast between the sweets and the sandwich.

"Yeah" Harry said lowering his hand "It's fine, don't worry"

"No" Ron shouted immediately, lifting from his seat "Here" he took the other sandwich and gave it to Harry.

They ate and talked and laughed while the train kept running over the rails. Ron told Harry about every single piece of candy in the wizarding world and Harry explained muggle candy to Ron.

When the woods replaced the fields out of the window, a chubby short boy peeked from the compartment door.

"Hello" he said "Have you seen a toad?"

"What?" Ron asked.

"I've lost my toad, Trevor"

"We haven't seen it" Harry said to Neville as he stood up "but we'll help you find it"

"Really?" the round-faced boy asked.

"Yeah" Ron said joining them.

"Lets go asked in the compartments you haven't visited yet. The three of us will visited them all in no time"

"Thanks" said Neville, a little bit surprised.

"I'm Harry by the way" the boy said extending his hand towards Neville "and this is Ron"

Ron wave at the chubby boy, who took Harry's hand timidly "Neville" he said tilting his head.

They quickly searched the remaining compartments without any luck. Eventually, Percy Weasley appeared, displaying his prefect insignia proudly, and told the boys that they shouldn't be out of their compartment. The boys tried to explain him that they were helping Neville find Trevor but Percy dismissed them and told the round-face boy that he would help him. The boys said goodbye to Neville, cast an unpleasant look to the older Weasley and went back to their compartment.

"Prefect Percy ruining the day again" Ron said once they were seated.

"He was doing what he was supposed to" Harry said. Ron and Percy's relation had always been tense, to say the least. The older Weasley was very different from the rest of his family. He was introvert and structured. Harry never liked him much either, and clearly the sentiment was mutual. But at the end of the day, he was a Weasley, and a Gryffindor, and he truly loved his family.

"I guess" Ron said casting a confused look to Harry "He didn't need to be such a prat about it though"

Harry snorted "Yeah" he said "He was pretty rude"

Shortly after, a girl knock in the compartment door and stepped in when the boys turned their heads to look at her. She was already wearing the school robes and her bushy brown hair formed a mane around her face.

"Hello" she said with her bossy voice "Have you seen a toad? A boy named Neville lost it and I'm helping him to find it"

"We already know" Ron said "We were helping him when Percy the prefect told as to come back here"

"Oh" the girl said "If a prefect is helping him he'll find it in no time"

"I'm Harry Potter" the boy said quickly with a smile, seeing that Ron was about to said something, probably not really nice.

"I'm Hermione Granger" she said and her face changed suddenly "Wait, Harry Potter? You are on books" she finished excited.

"Really?" Harry said, he couldn't suppress the grin in his face. He realized how much he had missed his friend.

"I'd never met someone that's on books" she said, more talking to herself than to the boy.

Harry didn't know how to answer to that so he said "This is Ron"

"Hi" Ron was eyeing Hermione strangely.

"Hello" the girl responded, still in her own thoughts. Her eyes opened wide "What's that?" she grasped pointing to Ron.

A horrible rat's head was looking around nervously from Ron's pocket. A cold shiver ran through Harry's back, his head screaming in pain. Memories of the fat short repulsive man started surging in his mind but, with a lot of effort, he managed to suppress them. He didn't want to make another scene.

Hermione noticed the discomfort in Harry's face of course. The witch was incredibly perceptive "Are you all right?".

"Yes" he mumble making an effort to maintain a steady tone "I just don't like rats"

"Me neither" Ron grasped taking the atrocious creature in his hands "It was my brother's familiar, but my parents bought him an owl when he became prefect so now its mine"

He moved it towards Harry, who flinched. A furious anger was brewing in the boys stomach. He knew the pathetic man hiding behind the animal, and what he had done. There wasn't anything he could do without looking like a maniac in front of his friends, so he buried the ire, promising himself that he would do something later.

"The twins show me how to make it change color" Ron said taking out his wand.

He made some wide movements and hit the rat in the head with his wand. Nothing happened.

"I think your brothers were joking with you, mate" Harry said smirking.

Ron's gaze danced between the rat and his wand "Those troll heads"

Hermione looked pensive, as she did most of the time really, "I haven't read anything about changing colors, but I read about a spell that change an animal ears, do you want me to show you?"

Ron didn't look sure, but Harry was excited "Yes" he blurt.

Hermione seemed over the moon while she explained the boys the simple transfiguration. By the time they ended, Scabbers ears looked like those of an elephant. The rat didn't looked pleased, which made Harry jubilant.

But Harry's mood dampened when he descried the blonde boy stopping by the door, his two minions where behind him, trying to look menacing but obviously exaggerating.

The blonde opened the door and stepped inside "You must be Harry Potter" he said "I'm Draco Malfoy"

The headaches went back to destroying Harry's mind. For a split second he was in the headmaster's office, he couldn't move. A ray of green light filled the room.

He pulled himself back to reality, Malfoy's pompous smirk drove him furious "Malfoy" he said through clenched teeth "I saw that name in a book"

Draco's smirk deepened. Hermione watched the blond boy with widened eyes, probably delight to met another person from the books.

"Yes" Harry continued thoughtfully "I read something about a Lucius Malfoy"

"He's my father" Malfoy said lifting his nose.

"I read he was one of this… Dead Eaters" Harry said with narrow eyes.

"What?" Draco snapped "How dear you?" his face reddening.

Both his minions, Crabbe and Goyle, stepped inside the compartment going for Harry.

"No" Draco said suddenly raising his hand as to stop them, never taking his cold gray eyes from Harry's "He doesn't know better. You should be wiser Potter, there's families worth knowing" he said touching his chest "and there are families that are a disgrace" he muttered moving his gaze towards Ron "Isn't that so Weasley?" he looked back to Harry "I'll give you another chance, maybe you'll do better this time"

Harry stood up, making a quick wrist movement. In a second, his wand appeared in his hand, its point pushing against Draco's throat "I think is clear which is the better family here" he said with more venom that he had intended in his words.

Malfoy's already pale skin went even whiter. His bottom lip was trembling. Crabbe and Goyle were petrified in their places.

Percy appeared before Harry could do anything "What's happening in here?" he asked horrified.

Harry and Draco share a ferocious look "Nothing Weasley" Malfoy said.

Harry lowered his wand. Malfoy scowled, turned around and left the compartment, pushing Percy on his way out "This is not over Potter" he yelled from the corridor. Crabbe and Goyle followed him closely.

"Put that away" the older Weasley told Harry "Put your robes on, we are about to arrive at Hogwarts" he beamed Harry with a menacing look and left.

"That was…" Hermione started.

"Incredible" Ron finished, throwing his hands over his head.

"Stupid" Hermione said watching Ron reprovingly "You could have gotten yourself in a lot of trouble"

"He was insulting Ron's family" Harry explained "And I only wanted to scare him, I wasn't going to do anything"

"I'm going to fetch my trunk before you two get me in detention before we even start classes" Hermione said wearily as she left the compartment.

"She's really bossy, don't you think?" Ron asked after she left.

Harry chuckled "She seemed smart".

"Well, maybe that too" Ron said still looking at the door.

The boys put on their robes and waited.

The train slowed down, the screaming of the wheels became only a whisper. Inside, the excited voices of kids filled the environment with warmth. The anticipation and the happiness were palpable. But inside the red velvet compartment a boy was more nervous than the others. His hands trembled lightly as he got dressed. His life in Hogwarts was about to star, again.


End file.
